Australia to block domains hosting extremist content during terror attacks

midian182

Posts: 9,662   +121
Staff member
In brief: We’ve seen a worrying trend in recent years that involves terrorists posting extremist material online, such as livestreaming mass shootings on social media. Australia plans to fight these actions by blocking access to internet domains hosting the content during crisis events.

As reported by Reuters, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is in France for the 45th G7 Summit, said his government aims to prevent terrorists “the opportunity to glorify their crimes” on digital platforms.

The announcement comes after the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, back in March, which saw 51 worshippers killed in two mosques. The attack was livestreamed on Facebook.

To enforce the plans, Australia will establish a 24/7 Crisis Coordination Center to monitor for extremist online material. The country’s eSafety Commissioner will determine what should be censored on a case-by-case basis.

The Government added that in addition to extremist violence, any domains hosting “abhorrent material,” defined as content showing murder, attempted murder, rape, torture, or kidnapping that is recorded by anyone involved would also be blocked.

Companies including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Microsoft, and Twitter, alongside telcos Telstra, Vodafone, TPG, and Optus are expected to provide details on how they will implement the plans next month.

Australia is also considering legislation to force digital platforms to improve their safety, though it’s unclear what repercussions they would face if the companies failed to carry out the improvements.

There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the plans, such as how long the bans remain in place, whether the government would block all of Facebook or Twitter if it deemed it necessary, and how such a ban would affect the reporting of terrorist incidents.

Permalink to story.

 
I actually like certain aspects of this. Facebook and Twitter just say "too hard" and don't stop that content streaming live then they should be blocked during such an event and cop whatever fallout from such an occurrence.
Naturally, the Government is likely to do dodgy things with it too. We need our whistleblowers like Wikileaks to keep the bastards honest.
 
Great idea and for those companies like Fakebook and Twitter that say it's too hard, lets make it simple, "you close your doors until you can find a way". Amazing how a little motivation through the pocketbook can inspire!
 
Almost certainly this will be easy to bypass. It will be a simple matter of setting a new DNS supplier or using a VPN.
 
Now if only news networks would stop giving mass shooters/killers the same coverage (which is what those shitbags want; attention) we would be really talking.
 
I actually like certain aspects of this. Facebook and Twitter just say "too hard" and don't stop that content streaming live then they should be blocked during such an event and cop whatever fallout from such an occurrence.
Naturally, the Government is likely to do dodgy things with it too. We need our whistleblowers like Wikileaks to keep the bastards honest.
That's when they label Wikileaks as extremist.
 
That's when they label Wikileaks as extremist.
They can huff and puff all they like. Wikileaks has an extremely good track record for truth. The best they can do is start attacking journalism which is what they are doing but public sentiment is pretty strongly against the Government here.
 
Back